Catch22
by Jackfan
Summary: Jack angst postEndgame. JI. Jack revisits Elsa Caplan, FINAL
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Jack revisits Elsa Caplan to get additional information about Irina. Lots of angst. Post-Endgame. Follow-on story (Catch-47) will be posted later.  
  
Rating: G  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to JJ.  
  
Background: In Endgame, Elsa Caplan, wife of mathematician Neil Caplan, is revealed to be a Russian spy, placed to obtain information from her husband. She has implanted her husband with a transmitter and a cyanide capsule, which can be remotely detonated. Jack, perceiving the similarity between Elsa and Irina, doesn't trust her and threatens to remove her son. This fic takes place after Neil Caplan has been rescued and Elsa has been granted immunity *****************************************************  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Hold still, sir. Just another few minutes."  
  
Jack held himself motionless on the table. The cold metal surface chilled him through the thin gown. Ruthlessly he suppressed the thoughts that threatened to bubble to the surface. That had threatened his carefully constructed world since his conversation with Elsa Caplan in her cell.  
  
"Thank you sir. We're done now. You can relax; the doctor will be in shortly."  
  
With a sigh, Jack swung his legs around and sat up. His eyes flickered over the equipment which had just completed his full body scan without interest. He had spent far too much time in hospitals. He was anxious to leave.  
  
The door swung open, and a white-coated doctor walked in. "Director Bristow?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You're clean. No transmitters. No capsules. No aliens waiting to climb out of your chest." The doctor looked over at Jack to see if he had gotten the joke. Jack's expression of irritation suggested he didn't get many jokes. "No implants of any kind," the doctor finished hastily.  
  
"Thank you," said Jack dismissively. The doctor left the room and Jack stood up to put his clothes on. So she hadn't injected him. The protocol must have shifted sometime between the time Irina had returned to Russia and Elsa had been assigned. He wondered why. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Jack stared moodily at his glass. He had been unable to stop replaying the conversation with Elsa Caplan in his mind. He'd been an ass, of course. His emotions were still raw from the realization that Elsa Caplan had chosen her love for her husband over her mission. As Irina had not. If Barnett ever saw the tape, he'd be in therapy for the rest of his life.  
  
He had made far too many bad judgment calls lately. He'd misread Elsa Caplan. He'd underestimated Sydney, and her ability to play outside the rules. He'd refused to go after Caplan, almost killing him and failing to get access to the genetic database. He had a mole in the Ops Center.  
  
And, finally, he'd trusted Irina. And she had played him again, escaping to Sloane with the Rambaldi manuscript. He'd thought it would be impossible for her to devastate him another time. He'd been wrong. His duty required him to apprehend her, using whatever means possible. His sanity required that he never see her again.  
  
"You're Sydney's father. Irina Derevko was your wife."  
  
Elsa Caplan's words came back to him. She had known Irina. Or known of her. What, exactly, did she know? Would it be at all useful in their search for her? He knew the information needed to be obtained, knew he needed to be the one to do it. It was just that, with all his current failures, he wasn't in the mood to have his biggest one thrown back in his face.  
  
He finished the scotch in one long swallow and reached for the phone to book a plane to Bainbridge Island.  
  
***  
  
Elsa Caplan was sitting through yet another endless debriefing session. Neil had been with her for most of them, patiently by her side, holding her hand, as she had answered question after question about her mission. How had she been trained? How had her husband been selected? Who were her contacts? At first her answers had been halting, as she had struggled to shake the feeling that she was betraying her country. But she would feel a gentle squeeze on her hand as her husband looked over at her, sensing her distress, and her resolve had stiffened. She had already made her choice. She didn't regret it. Today Neil was at home with their son, who had woken with a fever.  
  
Elsa felt Jack's presence before she saw him. She looked up, and saw him standing in the door, brooding. She did not attempt to mask her dislike. The last time she had seen him he had threatened to take away her son.  
  
Jack glanced over at her interrogator. "I have a few questions for Mrs. Caplan. Why don't you take a break?"  
  
The agent looked up, startled. It was unusual for an agent of Director Bristow's seniority to participate in defector interrogation. "Of course, sir."  
  
"Turn off the cameras."  
  
"Yes, sir." The agent left the room, switching off the recording equipment on the way.  
  
Jack turned back to Elsa.  
  
"You've been granted defector status in exchange for your cooperation."  
  
"Yes?" replied Elsa, frostily. "I've been more than cooperative."  
  
"I need you to answer some questions for me."  
  
Elsa raised an eyebrow.  
  
Jack sighed to himself. Her body language was quite clear. "I apologize for our last meeting. I. jumped to conclusions that weren't accurate."  
  
Elsa nodded, slightly mollified. "I am indebted to your daughter. What do you want to know?"  
  
"When I walked into your cell, you knew my name. And the name of my wife, Irina Derevko."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Jack swallowed. "How?"  
  
Elsa's reply was soft, but direct. "The last time we met, you said that you were an expert on someone like me. What you probably didn't realize is that I know as much about you as you thought you knew about me."  
  
This is what Jack had feared. He looked away briefly, unable to hold her gaze.  
  
"I was trained for 3 years for this mission. English language, American culture, weapons, hand-to-hand fighting, communications. And, of course, we reviewed case studies of those who had come before us. Derevko was famous. She wasn't the first, but she was one of the most spectacularly successful. Ten years is a long time to successfully evade detection. We studied her methods, her approaches.  
  
Jack paled slightly. Unable to stop himself, he choked out, "Her methods?"  
  
"Yes. Derevko approached her assignment in an unconventional manner. Up until that point, the KGB had tended to concentrate its efforts on older, more senior targets. The relationships were more liaisons than anything else, and seldom lasted beyond 9 months."  
  
"Derevko's mission was altogether different. It was to find an agent early enough in his career that marriage would be natural. So that his trust in her would grow as his career grew. So that by the time he had maximum access to information at the CIA, she would have maximum access to the information as well. She completely rewrote the book."  
  
"She.she told you what her approaches had been? What had worked best?"  
  
Elsa looked at him curiously. "No, I never met her personally. We studied her case files, and her handler's notes. I recognized you from the pictures, although of course you looked much younger then."  
  
Younger, thought Jack. And naïve.  
  
"Derevko was so successful that virtually all of the protocols for my mission were modeled on hers."  
  
"What about the cyanide implant?"  
  
"That was also due to Derevko."  
  
Jack sat down heavily. Of course, it would have been Irina's idea to implant cyanide in the targets. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jack sat down heavily.  Of course, it would have been Irina's idea to implant cyanide in the targets.  He looked back over at Elsa.  "Tell me," he said abruptly, "about the protocols of your mission.  The ones that were built on Irina's work."  As he asked the question, he felt his stomach twist.  He wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"Are you interested in my mission or Irina's?"

"Just answer the question," he snapped.

Elsa shrugged.  "Derevko's first innovation was in the area of target choice.  Up until her mission, a single target would be defined and the agent would attempt to complete her assignment irrespective of compatibility.  Irina insisted on hand selecting her target from a list of 7-8 that the KGB provided.  According to her notes, she reasoned that it would be impossible to deceive a reasonably intelligent target over a long period of time, and that genuine attraction would need to be present to form the basis for a long-term relationship."

That was at least partly true, Jack thought grimly to himself.  He remembered Cuvee's boast in Kashmir:

_Not to brag, but I'm kind of responsible for matchmaking you and Irina. Didn't she tell you? I was a supervisor at the KGB. I was the one who gave her the assignment to go to the US and marry a CIA officer. Now, you weren't the only prospect, of course. But you had the most potential. Ha! I actually thought it would dawn on you that a woman like this would never go for someone like you. _

_Luckily for me, your ego was too big for that._

"She selected me for 'potential'," Jack said flatly.

"Well, actually, her handler's notes indicated that you were selected based on career potential.  It was clear from Irina's notes, however, that she had done extensive research on your personality, temperament, likes and dislikes.  Later analysts concluded that you were selected because Irina felt she would not need to feign attraction to you – a prospect that would have been exhausting and risky over the course of 10 years."

"Are you telling me I was selected because she was attracted to me?" Jack demanded incredulously.

"You'd have to ask her.  I'm just telling you what her notes said.  Based on her recommendation, I was given wide latitude in my target choice.  Neil was the result.  And based on my experience, without that attraction the mission would have failed miserably.  It's one thing to simulate desire in short bursts during a 6 month liaison; it's something entirely different to maintain that kind of fiction with a colicky baby at 3am in the morning, or when the sump pump has failed and the basement is filling with water."

Jack stood up, ostensibly to walk around the room.  In reality so that Elsa could not read his face.  He could remember every detail of his courtship of Laura.  At no point had he sensed that her attraction to him had been anything less than genuine.  When had it changed, he wondered bitterly.  What had prevented that attraction from blossoming into the full-fledged love he had thought they shared? 

 "What else?" he asked gruffly.  "What other protocols were based on her work?"

Elsa's eyes followed Jack around the room curiously.  "There were some modifications she recommended to the contact policy.  At the start of her assignment, her handler would meet her once a month in a hotel room."  Out of the corner of her eye Elsa could see Jack's jaw tighten.  "Derevko's notes highlighted the risk this represented.  Not only was she at risk of exposure due to the frequency of contact, but it would be disastrous to her marriage if others suspected she was meeting a man in a hotel room, let alone her Russian handler.  Her handler's notes indicated only grudging acquiescence – he had apparently enjoyed those meetings more than she had." 

Elsa paused and looked over at Jack.  The situation had been clear to her when she had read the case file; the flash in his eyes indicated that it was clear to him as well.  "In short order she had converted the contact to once every 4 months, by phone, which is what my contact policy was based on."

"Do you… do you remember when she shifted to phone contact?" Jack asked brittly.

Elsa noticed that Jack was gripping the back of one of the chairs so tightly she could see the whites of his knuckles.  "It was right before you were married.  I remember because it was included in her handler's observations of your wedding."

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Thank God.  Not Sydney.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Thank God.  Not Sydney.  Irina had taken so much from him – he could not have borne losing the one scrap of comfort he had.  He opened them to see Elsa watching him closely, understanding and a hint of compassion in her eyes.  Suddenly he felt an overpowering need to get out of the room, away from the gaze of this Russian spy who was not his wife, but knew so much about him.  He didn't want her pity. "I'm taking a break," he muttered, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

He wandered blindly down the corridor, stopping only to drink from the water fountain, his mouth suddenly dry.  He found an empty room and stepped inside, finding the dimness of the lightless room soothing.  Snatches of the earlier conversation rippled through his head_… "studied your case file"… "spectacularly successful"… "rewrote the book"… "handler's notes"… "hotel room"…_He knew that he wasn't compartmentalizing well, knew he hadn't been for weeks.  He wasn't even sure why he was asking Elsa Caplan these questions – while he was learning much about Irina's thought process 30 years ago, he was no closer to finding her now.  He briefly considered calling Sydney to finish the debriefing, then dismissed it.  He had many failings as a father, but exposing her to Caplan's revelations about her mother would not be one of them.  Jack took several deep breaths, then squared his shoulders and headed back to the debriefing room. 

 Elsa was still sitting at the table, composed, hands folded together on the table.  She looked up and studied Jack as he re-entered.  He appeared to have regained control, his face once more an impassive mask.  Elsa reflected on the differences between the man in front of her now and the laughing, adoring husband she had imagined from Irina's notes.  She had recognized him from his pictures.  She would never have recognized him from Irina's description.

Jack cleared his throat.  "We were discussing the protocols for your mission," he said levelly.

"There were several other changes that Irina recommended as her assignment progressed that were incorporated into my mission," Elsa responded.  "The first was about 3 years in.  She had… extracted… information about an upcoming mission in which you were to be involved.  Syria, I think."  Elsa looked up at Jack to see if he remembered, and saw him watching her intently.  "The KGB counter mission did not go as planned.  They were surprised and there was a firefight.  You were badly injured."

Jack remembered the Syrian mission.  Remembered waking up in a hospital, Laura holding his hand, tears of joy in her eyes.  He had been so comforted, having her there next to him.  She had scarcely left his side until he had been able to leave. The tears, he realized now, had been tears of guilt.

"Derevko was livid.  Her first transmission following the incident challenged the parentage of the officer in charge of the counter mission.  Later communications were more moderate in tone, pointing out that, as her husband, you were worth far more to the KGB alive than dead.   The incident touched off a turf war within the KGB, which was eventually won by the undercover unit.  Irina was not asked to provide information on your upcoming missions again, and efforts were made to assure some level of protection for you when you were abroad.  The same provisions were made for Neil."

Jack's head snapped up.  "You want me to believe that I was being 'protected' by the KGB all those years?" he exclaimed angrily.

"You would probably be a better judge than I.  Your case file indicated that you developed a reputation for lucky escapes in those days." 

Jack ground his teeth together.  He cast his memory back over his missions.  He had indeed had more than his share of luck in those early years.  He had been rather proud of some of his getaways.  How dare she, he thought with fury.  His fingers itched with a sudden, overwhelming urge to throttle Irina.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Not wanting to dwell on why Irina might have wanted to protect him, Jack decided to change the subject.  "You indicated that there was another protocol established based on Irina's work?"

Elsa suddenly looked uncomfortable, as if she regretted having mentioned it in the first place.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he studied her carefully. "Children," he guessed.

Elsa nodded, not meeting his eyes.

Jack pressed his advantage.  "I was half right the other day in your cell, wasn't I?   Sydney was an accident.  Irina was never supposed to have children."  Elsa heard the triumphant sound in his voice but, looking up, saw the stricken look in his eyes.

Elsa winced.  "No," she said softly.   "No, she wasn't supposed to have children.  Moscow felt that children would too severely limit her mobility.  Her handler reported her accidental pregnancy with some irritation.  Remember, their communication was on 4 month cycles by that point.  She reported detecting the pregnancy immediately following one of those contacts; by the time he was aware of the situation, 4 months later, it was too late to order a termination without causing too many questions – she had just started her 3rd trimester and was showing."

"But I always wondered, reading that report.  Russian agents don't have 'accidents' with birth control.  Of course, she could convince her male handler that she had made a mistake, but as a woman reading her file - the timing was too perfect.  I couldn't understand why she had done it. That is, until I decided to have Aaron."

"And why… based on your study of her file…  do you think she chose to have a child?" Jack asked slowly.  Jack's back was to her, as he gazed out the window.  She couldn't see his face, but could hear the raw emotion in his voice.

Elsa paused, momentarily at a loss.  A sharp knock on the door interrupted her before she could respond.

Jack looked over, startled to see Neil Caplan stride in.  He watched him approach his wife, taking her hand, assuring her that Aaron was fine.  Jack felt a surge of antipathy towards him.  By rights, they should be allies – targeted by the KGB, lied to by their wives.  But Caplan had known all along, hadn't been abandoned as Jack had.  In reality, there was little common ground between them.

"Mr. Caplan?" he inquired coldly.

"Elsa, who's this?"

"Neil, meet Director Bristow," replied Elsa drily. 

"You're the son-of-a-bitch that threatened to take our son?" Caplan snarled, his face darkening as he turned to face Jack.

Clearly, thought Jack, the feeling was mutual.  "I'm the son-of-a-bitch that granted your wife defector status," snapped Jack.  "And if you'll excuse us, I wish to finish debriefing your wife.  Alone."

"No."

"Yes."

Each man glared at the other.  Elsa put her hand on her husband's arm.  "Neil," she said quietly.  "It's okay.  It's not what you think."  He remained motionless, his eyes locked with Jack's.  "Neil, please," she said pleadingly.  "It could have been you."  Caplan looked down at his wife, his face softening as he saw the tell-tale brightness in her eyes.

"I'll be back in 30 minutes," he said grudgingly, squeezing her hand.  He brushed past Jack, not looking at him, on the way out.

_Neil, it could have been you_, she'd said.  "You were prepared to leave your husband at the end of your assignment," Jack accused, diverted from their earlier discussion.

"I was trained to leave my husband, yes.  It was always anticipated that there would be a point of diminishing returns, or another assignment which had more priority."

"And you were ready to do that at any point?  I thought you said you loved him," retorted Jack, his anger rising.  Perhaps she was no different from Derevko.  He wondered if her husband knew how quickly she would have abandoned him.

"I would have left him because I loved him," she said softly, her hands twisting in her lap.  "The cyanide capsule.  They would have triggered it if I had refused."

Jack was bewildered.  "You injected your husband with a cyanide capsule that was intended to compel you to return?  Why would you do that?"

Elsa looked at him impatiently.  "It should be obvious that the protocols for this mission resulted in a high likelihood of the agent falling in love with her target.  It was the element that made the agent most successful in gaining access to classified information, and remaining undetected over long periods of time.  This risk was identified in advance, and the agent was instructed to drug her target early in the relationship and insert the capsule.  It served as a reminder for the agent of where her final loyalties lay.  If she refused to return, the capsule would be activated and there would be no reason for her to remain."

Jack looked at her, aghast.  "That was Irina Derevko's recommendation?"

"No.  She never recommended it."

"But you said earlier that the cyanide capsules were due to Derevko."

Elsa looked at Jack as if she were a teacher with a particularly dense pupil.  "We were required to memorize her case file summary, to ensure we understood the risks.  Perhaps that will answer your question:

_Agent Derevko succeeded beyond all expectations in her assignment.  Remaining undetected for 10 years, she provided the KGB with a wealth of intelligence that would not otherwise have been obtained, and developed a model for infiltration of the enemy.  The unfortunate attachment she developed for her target-_

"Attachment?" choked Jack.

"You were married for 8 years, knew her for 2 years more.   Are you telling me you didn't know she loved you?"

"She lied to me about so many things…," he said, his voice trailing off as he looked back out the window.

"Not about what mattered.  Her case file was clear.  Her handler was frantic towards the end, once he had figured out what had happened."  She looked over at Jack, who still had his back to her.  "There's more."

"Go ahead," he said hoarsely.

Elsa resumed:

_The unfortunate attachment she developed for her target, which resulted in her forcible extraction, _

"Forcible extraction?" Jack spun around.  His hands had clenched into fists.

"She refused to be reassigned.  They had to kidnap her to bring her back to Russia."  Elsa resumed again, holding up her hand so that Jack would let her finish:

_The unfortunate attachment she developed for her target, which resulted in her forcible extraction, was subsequently addressed through reprogramming at the Kashmiri facility of Muzaffarabad.  She returned to active duty 10 months later._

_This analyst recommends that, to avoid future conflicts of interest for our agents on similar assignments, a device be implanted in targets that can be triggered remotely._

"And that's how the cyanide implant was developed," Elsa concluded.  


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"And that's how the cyanide implant was developed," Elsa concluded.  "Irina Derevko had developed the perfect infiltration strategy.  It just had one catch – it risked ruining any agent that attempted it.  You asked if Irina had ever spoken to us during our training.   Even after the reprogramming was complete, she refused to discuss the assignment or her family again."

"I saw a debriefing tape…," said Jack, still reeling.

"I saw two.  One immediately upon her return, and one towards the end of her stay in Kashmir.  They were markedly different.  They showed us both to prove that, even if we succumbed to the assignment, they could help us 'recover'," Elsa said cynically.  "Ten months in Kashmir.  The facility was notorious then.  It took them 10 months to accomplish what normally would have been achieved in three.  She must have been pretty tough."

Knees suddenly weak, Jack slumped down into a chair, head in his hands, oblivious to Elsa.  _She must have been pretty tough_.  He could taste the bile rising in his throat as he imagined what those 10 months must have been like.  He was filled with a momentary surge of rage.  Against her captors.  Against Irina.  Why didn't she tell me?, he wanted to shout.  Six months in that damn glass cell and she couldn't have mentioned it once?  You didn't ask, said a small voice.  And the one time she did, you thought she was lying.

_You know what this place was when I was here, Jack? A prison. Where the KGB interrogated suspected traitors and no, I wasn't an officer here. I was a prisoner. Why do you think I learned the sewage tunnels or memorized the mine locations? So I could escape, you idiot._

But she hadn't escaped, thought Jack.  And no one had come to help her.  He wondered if she had waited there, in the Kashmir prison, hoping he would figure it out.  Hoping he would come for her.  Not knowing that he thought she was dead, and had betrayed him.  How long before the hope had died?  He shuddered as he realized he knew the answer.  Ten months.

If he had known then what he knew now -  his jaw tightened - he would have found her.  "Why couldn't she have told me all those years ago?" he asked helplessly.

Elsa was silent for a moment, putting herself in Irina's place. It was not hard to do.  "Irina was smart, and confident.  I'm sure she thought she could extend her assignment indefinitely, that she was too valuable in place to be recalled.  She must have thought," and Elsa paused, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, "she must have thought you would hate her if you knew what she'd done.  She… would not have been able to bear that," Elsa finished, in a whisper.

Jack looked over at Elsa, and realized that she was no longer speaking just about Irina.  He sighed.  Neil Caplan was a lucky man.  Drained, and weary to the bone, Jack stood up and straightened his tie.  "Mrs. Caplan, I have no more questions," he began formally. "You have my thanks." Then, unbending slightly, "I hope you and your family have an easy adjustment to your new home."  He turned to head out the door.

"Director Bristow," said Elsa.  Jack stopped and turned back towards her.  "She didn't understand… what would be asked of her.  She loved you, protected you to the best of her ability, bore you a child, all the while knowing that it might come to an end.  Collecting as much intelligence as possible to prolong her stay.  Praying for a miracle that would let you both keep everything you had."

"We lost it all."

"No.   Not all of it."

****fin****

A/N: This universe is continued in "Catch-47"


End file.
